Robert Stein (1950)

Robert Stein (1972)

Robert Stein (2000s)

About Me

editor, publisher, media critic and journalism teacher,
is a former Chairman of the American Society of Magazine Editors, and author of “Media Power: Who Is Shaping Your Picture of the World?” Before the war in Iraq, he wrote in The New York Times: “I see a generation gap in the debate over going to war in Iraq. Those of us who fought in World War II know there was no instant or easy glory in being part of 'The Greatest Generation,' just as we knew in the 1990s that stock-market booms don’t last forever.
We don’t have all the answers, but we want to spare our children and grandchildren from being slaughtered by politicians with a video-game mentality."
This is not meant to extol geezer wisdom but suggest that, even in our age of 24/7 hot flashes, something can be said for perspective.
The Web is a wide space for spreading news, but it can also be a deep well of collective memory to help us understand today’s world. In olden days, tribes kept village elders around to remind them with which foot to begin the ritual dance. Start the music.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

If Obama Loses

Forget all the rhetoric about four more years of Bush, Old Politics vs. New Politics and all that jazz. Absent any plausible reason for a late McCain surge and victory, the inescapable fact about an Obama loss would be an ugly truth to haunt American life for years to come.

Around the edges of all the opinion poll data about what will happen in just over 48 hours is an uneasiness that points to heavy turnout, early voting, the question of whether youth registration will convert into actual balloting, etc. as imponderables in this unusual election year that shows Obama outpolling McCain on almost every issue of voter trust.

But the GOP elephant in the room is race: How many "undecideds" are rummaging around the coded attacks on Barack Obama as a wealth-spreading, terrorist-friendly Muslim radical to justify their bone-deep need to vote against a black man as president?

If enough of them do, how can we explain it to ourselves--and the rest of the world?

No last-minute scare tactics about taxes or lame McCain cameos on SNL will suffice to explain away what, given all the truths of this campaign, would be a lasting American shame.

6 comments:

I feel that obama has a huge weight that will be placed on his shoulders if elected president, if he makes big mistakes people will be saying I told you so and i have a feeling a lot of racism will stir, if he does a good job hopefully it will knock some sense into peoples heads and show them that we're all the same. In all races there's some good people and some bad.. its life.

Today, McCain's odds of victory doubled (as reported over at fivethirtyeight.com). That's the bad news. The good news? His odds of winning as of today are still just 6.3%. I suspect, though, that with the heavy turnout, race, odd stories about Obama, and discontent with Bush (er, Republican) policies, these polls might not tell the whole story. I can only hope it'll break in Obama's favor, but this is, afterall, the country that re-elected Bush.

Tensions are heated, emotions are high, and lies run abound... in EVERY ELECTION. But this is what I find sad in this election: If Obama loses, chances are, it won't be reported that citizens decided raising taxes in this economy is not a good idea. There won’t be articles touting American’s questions about Obama's associations as a cause. And there’s a good chance that Obama's very liberal leanings will be completely ignored as a reason for the failure, even though he's been labeled as the most liberal senator in all of the senate, based on voting record and quotes from his own books. No, if he loses, it will most likely be reported that this loss is because he's black (or African-American). It is already implied that people who don't vote for him, choose not to because they are either ultra conservative (and out-of-touch) or a closet racists. That's just wrong. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist – it does, on BOTH sides. What I am saying is that there are other reasons the man might not win, such as his policy, associations, and past record. And while polls might say Obama is ahead, how accurate are they? I've never been polled and I'm a registered voter -- have you? The only poll that really matters is the one on Election Day. And, should Mccain make a last minute come back and win the election - it won't be the first time in American history this happened (19th pres - Pres. Hayes is a perfect example. His win was so controversial; it wasn't confirmed for almost 2 months). Personally, I think it would be a huge disservice to the American country and to the minority groups all around this country to focus on Obama's loss as being solely based on the color of his skin. I give this Country and its citizens more credit than that.